Chicago, 15th U.S. Tour in Austin, November 19 - 24, 2013

by Michael Meigs

An enthusiastic voice behind us as we exited Bass Concert Hall at the University of Texas last night: "That was nothing like the movie!"

Live performance, even in the cavernous space of the Bass, can seize your attention and send your heart racing in ways that no flat screen image ever can. And that's what happens in the 15th (annual?) tour of Chicago, playing in Austin through this coming Sunday.

(Terra C. MacLeod)

The story is familiar and, frankly, banal, a combination of 1920's tabloid sensationalism, some 1930's B-movie styling, and a dose of Cinderella (and I don't mean Disney's Cinderella). Roxy murders her lover and when her big dumb good-hearted husband realizes what happened, he recants his own false impression; she gets sent to the state pen in Joliet, where a different hierarchy rules. Tough women sing in cages (Cell Block Tango) and vie with one another for favors from Mama the warden and from Billy Flynn, the lawyer who'll lie, cheat, misrepresent and do just about anything (except, interestingly, overtly request sexual favors) to earn his colossal fee by obtaining a non-guilty verdict. Tabloid notoriety promises to become celebrity that offers prospects of a career in vaudeville.

(Terra C. MacLeod and cast)

The thrills of this stage version are delivered hot and steaming by the choreography. It's classic Bob Fosse style done for the 1997 original staging by Ann Reinking and meticulously recreated by David Bushman. Muscular, supple and proudly strutting their stuff in revealing costumes, this cast of a dozen dancers astonishes and surprises again and again. The moves are cool, the scenes are fast and full of style, and over the course of the two hours of entertainment you'll have the opportunity to pick your very favorite. The final curtain call brings them on individually with their own names to receive the acclaim of the crowd.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Video: LUNA UNLACED, Teatro Luna of Chicago, Mexican-American Cultural Center: Austin, June 20, and (*) San Antonio, June 24, 2013

San Antonio

and

Austin

present

June 20, 2013

at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican-American Cultural Center, 600 River Street - click for map

(*) June 24, 2013, 7:30 p.m.
 at SAY SÍ 1518 S. Alamo St, San Antoinio, Texas, 78204

Teatro Luna, AMERICA'S Pan Latina Theatre Company, based in Chicago, will be performing at at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican Cultural Center (MACC), 600 River Street, Austin, TX on June 20, 2013 @ 7:30pm. Teatro Luna is working in conjunction with TEATRO VIVO, Theatre with heart.
 
IN AUSTIN TICKETS ARE $15! - click to purchase on-line

IN SAN ANTONIO TICKETS ARE $10 - click to purchase on-line

With LUNA UNLACED, the ladies of Luna give you a chance to decide the show live from moment to moment! We’ve unpacked, unfettered and unlaced the entire canon of work to bring audiences across Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California the very best of Luna with our trademark humor that we use when telling real stories. Using monologues, songs, improv, scenes and poetry, the Ladies of Luna delve into a whole slew of issues ranging from our sexuality, latinidad, adventures in immigrant story archives, unfortunate racist encounters we’ve lived through, and the sometimes self-induced drama that makes up our lives as Latinas in the USA.
The idea is simple: we’ve picked twenty of our favorite pieces from recent productions, and through a series of random draws, Twitter battles and loteria games, the audience picks the twelve pieces they want to see. The show is different every night, and every night, the actors are as surprised by the outcome as the audience. Anything can happen with the Ladies of Luna!

Background: Video Funding Appeal for the tour (closed June 12)

About Teatro Luna Teatro Luna is America’s all-Latina theatre dedicated to creating original devised and single-author work that honors Latina lives and showcases the talents of Latina/Hispana artists. Founded in 2000, Luna is dedicated to expanding the range of Latina roles visible on the Chicago stage and beyond. Luna produces a full season of their original full-length and one-off events year-round and tours colleges/universities, festivals and venues across the country with a blend of ensemble-created performances, workshops, and lectures. Our varied education programs serve both Adult Latina/All Women of Color and Youth including our ambitious LUNALABS series dedicated to providing free training for women pursuing professional careers in playwrighting, directing, producing, acting, and dramaturgy. 2012 marked the launch of their VERA LUNA YOUNG ARTIST LABS. Luna is an award-winning theatre company whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, American Theatre Magazine, NBC, Univision, NPR, and other major outlets and publications on a wide spectrum ranging from scholarship to cultural, and everything in between.

LUNA UNLACED, Teatro Luna of Chicago, Mexican-American Cultural Center, Austin, June 20, 2013

presents

Teatro Luna, AMERICA'S Pan Latina Theatre Company, based in Chicago, will be performing at at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican Cultural Center (MACC), 600 River Street, Austin, TX on June 20, 2013 @ 7:30pm. Teatro Luna is working in conjunction with TEATRO VIVO, Theatre with heart.
TICKETS ARE ONLY $15! 
 
With LUNA UNLACED, the ladies of Luna give you a chance to decide the show live from moment to moment! We’ve unpacked, unfettered and unlaced the entire canon of work to bring audiences across Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California the very best of Luna with our trademark humor that we use when telling real stories. Using monologues, songs, improv, scenes and poetry, the Ladies of Luna delve into a whole slew of issues ranging from our sexuality, latinidad, adventures in immigrant story archives, unfortunate racist encounters we’ve lived through, and the sometimes self-induced drama that makes up our lives as Latinas in the USA.

The idea is simple: we’ve picked twenty of our favorite pieces from recent productions, and through a series of random draws, Twitter battles and loteria games, the audience picks the twelve pieces they want to see. The show is different every night, and every night, the actors are as surprised by the outcome as the audience. Anything can happen with the Ladies of Luna!

About Teatro Luna Teatro Luna is America’s all-Latina theatre dedicated to creating original devised and single-author work that honors Latina lives and showcases the talents of Latina/Hispana artists. Founded in 2000, Luna is dedicated to expanding the range of Latina roles visible on the Chicago stage and beyond. Luna produces a full season of their original full-length and one-off events year-round and tours colleges/universities, festivals and venues across the country with a blend of ensemble-created performances, workshops, and lectures. Our varied education programs serve both Adult Latina/All Women of Color and Youth including our ambitious LUNALABS series dedicated to providing free training for women pursuing professional careers in playwrighting, directing, producing, acting, and dramaturgy. 2012 marked the launch of their VERA LUNA YOUNG ARTIST LABS. Luna is an award-winning theatre company whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, American Theatre Magazine, NBC, Univision, NPR, and other major outlets and publications on a wide spectrum ranging from scholarship to cultural, and everything in between.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Chicago, KidsActing, Center Stage, February 25 - March 6

Found on-line:

presents at its Center Stage Texas Theatre:

...and all that jazz

February 18th-March 6th
Center Stage Texas, 2826 Real Street (click for map)
Friday, February 25th @ 7:30pm - Benefit performance-Click here to order tickets now
Saturday, February 26th @ 7:30pm
Sunday, February 27th @ 3:00pm

Friday, March 4th @ 7:30pm
Saturday, March 5th @ 7:30pm
Sunday, March 6th @ 3:00pm

Ticket prices are as follows:
Ticket prices at the door to the performances will be the same as online prices.
Shows do sell out, so making a reservation online is the best way to ensure you will be able to attend the performance you would like.
Adults (18+) $15.00 -- Students (17-) $12.00 -- Current kidsActing students (spring 2011) $10.00

Click to purchase tickets on-line
You will not be receiving physical tickets, however all reservations will be listed on the reservation list at the door to the shows. Please let the box office know that you have reservations under the name given when placing your order. Seating is first come, first served, so please arrive approximately 30 minutes prior to showtime.

Where in the World is ALT? -- Austin, July 10

In July and August, 2010 I will be traveling, first to Chicago and then to Europe. This is a vacation in the sense that I'm "vacating" my activities as reviewer for made-in-Austin theatre productions during that time. Thanks to digital technology and the birthday gift from K of a new laptop computer, I'll be maintaining the site, including the Austin Live Theatre calendar, notices of upcoming theatre events and arts reporting.

(image: tropic diver at flickriver.com)

July 10, Saturday

Chicago is a great theatre town, with well-established, classy and innovative companies such as Steppenwolf and the Goodman in the loop, a generous helping of semi-pro theatres mostly in the north of the town, and a variety of suburb and university theatres.

Both of our children chose to go to Chicago for university, so we've had an intimate but long-distance relationship with that town since 2003. We still do, for our son L, just graduated, is sharing an apartment in Hyde Park, working and thinking about next steps, including graduate school.

First N and then L learned that a visit from dad was probably going to mean an excursion to the theatre. In this Internet age you can pick over the theatre offerings at leisure -- the Chicago Tribune's metromix.com provided me hours of dreamy trip-planning as we sat in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, on assignment from 2003 through 2007.

On-line entertainment information in Austin

Metromix has pushed into 63 other urban markets. Their beta site for Austin is laughable, by comparison with the meaty buffet available for Chicago. The new Austin start-up focuses on restaurants and bars and mentions a single current stage performance, misnaming it as "The Hat" (and, to boot, the Austin Lyric Opera's "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" was sold out within hours, long ago).

Maybe I should contact them.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Reviews from Elsewhere: Mike Daisey's How Theatre Failed America, Victory Gardens, Chicago

Found at The Chicago Theatre Blog, Catey Sullivan's review of Mike Daisey's blast at the soft and fuzzies of the theatre world.

Victory Gardens Theatre presents

How Theater Failed America

Written and performed by Mike Daisey
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory
At Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln (map)
Through May 2nd | Tickets: $25 | more info

reviewed by Catey Sullivan

“You should not have come here,” begins Mike Daisey in his one-man tour de force of nature, How Theater Failed America. For one thing, he continues, the title of the show sucks – ( “What is this, a fucking film strip?”) For another, Daisey’s simultaneously bleak and brilliant autobiographical walk down the memory lane of his career will outrage the politically correct. It will also send those who view theater as a sacred, noble art spiraling and screaming down a wild rabbit hole of profane realty. (Spoiler alert: Those who want to cling to the myth of “community” in theater should stay home and stick to their Twitter confabs.) It’s fair to ask why anyone other than out-of-work actors (which is to say – more or less – actors) should give a whit about the death of theater or about Daisey’s scathing monologue. Will the grid go dark if all of the world’s liberal arts grads collectively decide never to mount another revival of A View from the Bridge? Does the world’s well-being rest on an endless cycle of revisionist Ibsen? Of course not. Yet this is where Daisey’s explosive and formidable talent becomes so gloriously apparent. Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory, How Theater Failed America will be powerfully entertaining even to those who could not care less about whether Becket and Brecht vanish from the face of the earth, washed away by the likes of “The Little Mermaid”. As for those with a vested interest in the arts, they will find themselves repeatedly shocked and undeniably entertained by the galvanizing candor of Daisey’s observations. The man articulates truths that just aren’t spoken aloud and in doing so, breaks what often feels like a conspiracy of silence among artists. (Question the existence of “community” in local theatrical circles, and you’ll all but be accused of heresy.)

Weaving deeply personal stories into the context of the arts in the 21st century, Daisey hits the audience with a barrage of blazing immediacy and devastating honesty. While it’s autobiographical, Gregory’s direction excises the piece of all self-indulgence and paces it so well the two-hour run time feels like 15 minutes, This is a story about MIke Daisey’s life in the theater, but it is also a story about life in general in all its dazzling, manic absurdity and free-falling despair.

Read more at Chicago Theatre Blog. . . .